Service-door.



F. J. MATCHETTE.

Patented Apr. 17, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

MM H 2 g i x Q & F Mm W FRANK J. HATCHETTE, 01 MILWAUKEE, WISfONBIIN.

. Pa1 ;ented Apr. 1'7, 1911'.

Application flied June 12, 1914. Serial 80.845891.

SERVICE-D003.

1 222 963. Specification of Letters I'atent.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK J. Marcnn'rrn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Service- Doors, of which the ollowing is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this s ecification.

The s1'1b1ect-matter 0 this invention is a service door.

Broadly stated, the chief object of this invention is to provide means for enabling better and more satisfactory service to be rendered to the patrons or guests of hotels, clubs, apartment houses, and the like, by the attendants or servants of the hotel, or the like.

The utmost inconvenience has heretofore been attendant upon transferrin articles of clothing, supplies, and other ob ects, to and from the private room of a guest. Heretofore, any service rendered a guest has necessitated a violation of the privacy of his room. According to my invention this violation of the privacy of the room by entry to the room b servants for the purpose of receivin or elivering articles is entirely obviate I provide at a convenient point in the room a cabinet or closet accessible from both the inside of the room and from the outside thereof. Through this closet, which forms a seal or lock between the room and the hall or outside, articles may be delivered or received.

Another object of the invention is to provide a service door throu h which the guest may be enabled to transmit from and receive into his room various articles, maintaining meanwhile the rivacy of his room.

A further obJect is the provision of signaling mechanism to indicate automatically to the servants of the hotel the existence of wants on the part of the guest and to the guest the attention given to his wants.

The cabinet forms a channel for the transmission of articles to and from the room and the, coiiperating signal mechanism apprises each of the interested parties ofthe action taken by the other with respect to the articles moving through said channel.

In its broader aspects the invention is capable of very wide application and of a great variety of uses, and, whlle one specific' embodiment is described herein, this description is intended in no wise to limit the sco e of the invention but is a descri tion 0 an operative embodiment for t e purpose of complying with the statutes.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is an elevation of the room side of one type of door embodying my invention;

Fi 2 is an elevation of the hall side of said oor;

Fig. is a sectio rial elevation of the door shown in Figs. 1 and 2 taken on the line H of Fig. 4;

Flg. 4 is a sectic nal elevation of the door taken on the line ..-4 of Fig. 1, also indicated as 4-4 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmenta sectional view taken on the line 5- 5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragments sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of i 5;

F1 7 is a sectional detail view taken on the hue 7-7 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view showing the signaling mechanism in the lower compartment of the service door;

Fig. 9 is a view i1 1 perspective of the interlocking mechanism for the type of door shown in the prior figures- Fig. 10 is cross sectional elevation on the line 10-10 of Fig 1 showing the construction of the lower compartment;

Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 8 showing the slgnaling mecl: unism of the lower compartment in a diifarent position.

A remarkable advantage is secured by locating the cabir et within the door, be-

7 cause of the fact th at the door is always kept clear of articles of furniture and the like on the inside of the room, and is, therefore, always accessible from the inside of the room. Furthermore, the door naturally .marks the location of the-room asviewed from the outside, and the hotel servant is enabled to locate luickly and conveniently the position of the cabinet corresponding to a given room on account of its unvarying and convenient 'loc ation.

In Fig. 1, I have shown a door 20 having the usual top and aottom rails 21 22, hanging stile 23, and lock stile 24. doextensive with the inner edges of the stiles and rails is the casing 25 W1 ich forms the chamber or closet to which I h we referred. This casing is of considerably greater thickness than the usual door and 1s mounted centrally of the frame members of the door so as to project about equally on each side.

Ornamental molding 27 may be mounted at the joint between the-casing and the door to e the same a finished appearance as we? to aid in securing the casing to the frame members of the door.

On each side of the casing, doors are provided for allowing access to the interior of the casing. The interior of'the casing is divided into an upper compartment 28 and a lower compartment 29 by the partition 30. Acces can be ained to the upper compart ment 28 from t e room side b means of the door 31 and from the hall si e by. a similar door 32. Each of these doors is provided with a locking member 33, the locking member of the door 32 requiring a key.

In the top of each of the doors 31, 32 there is mounted an annulus of stam ed metal for providing a' si ht opening 34 or a purpose to be describ later, I

The lower compartment 29 has. doors 35 and 36 on the room side and hall side, respectively. These doors are also closed by suitable lockingmeans and a sight opening 39 is provided in the casin 7 side. The purpose of this will :also be described later.

It can now be seen that I have provided a cabinet coextensive with the inner framenot only its purpose as a service cabinet, butaids in bracing and sup orting the frame members of the door an gives a finished appearance to the door.

The service door so far described may be employed for transferring articles to and from a room by unlocking one side of the cabinet, placing the articles therein and notifying thehotel servants of the fact. The

articles may then be removed byv unlockingthe door on the other side of, the cabinet. In

a similar manner'the articles may be transferred from the outside of the room to the inside. However, I

that the cabinet might be simultaneously opened from both sides and, as a consequence, the room would not 'be maintained as access might be gained open at a time. To this end I employ an interloeking mechanism for preventing the un- 25 on the room refer to employ fur-- ther cooperating mec amsm for insur ng a- 1 certain manner of operation, as it s evident is cut away to form a surface cooperating 'with the member 41. The two members 41 and 42' are connected by a tension spring 45.

The lock on the room side is similarly provided with a bolt 46 laced in a reverse relation to the bolt 40. similar to members 41 and 42, 006 rate with the bolt 46. The bolt 46 is provided with a notch 49 and the member 48 has a catch 50 cooperating therewith. .Thememembers 47 and 48,

bers 47 and 42 are keyed to a common shaft 51- and the members 41 and .48 are keyed to a similar shaft 52. A key 54 may be provided for the lock 33.

The operation of the interlocking inechanism is as follows:

Assuming that the guest wishes'to open the door 31 on the room side of the cas ng, he must first unlock the door .31 by withdrawing the bolt 46. .When this. occurs the downward under arm 47 is allowed to drop the influence of the spring 45, suchinovement causin 43 in the be t '40 on the hall side. The door 31 is now unlocked and maybe opened but it is. evident that the door 32 cannot be unlocked as the bolt .40 is held by the catch 44 and cannot be withdrawn at this time. As soon as the door 31 is again locked, the movement of the bolt 46 forces the arm 47 to its raised position and disengages the catch 44 of the notch 43 on the hall side. Of course it is evident that either side may be unlocked first as both locks are free to o rate with equal facility, but after one It has been'thrown to open the door, the other the catch 44 to enter the notch bolt .cannot be withdrawn. In this manner access 'to the cabinet from only one side at a time is insured. This insures privacy of the room. Of course it is evident thatthe cabinet may be opened from the inside by any occupant of the room, but the outside door 32 may be opened only by an authorized person carrying the proper key 54. The

doors 35 and 36 may be similarly rovided with interlocking mechanism for t e same purpose. The rods 51 and .52 may be suitably supported by the brackets 55 and 56 as shown. in Fig. 7 It is evident that this Upper compartment In order to notify. the hotel servants of interlocking mechanism is capable of very 'wide uses as will be explained further.-

notifyin the the wants on the part of the guest, I provide the above described service door with suitable signaling mechanism I alsoprovide signaling mechanism for est that his wants are being attende to. hese signals may be automatically operated and aid materially in improvintglthe service rendered the est.

On e interior of the casing prefer to mount a garment hanger 60. Whenever a guest places a garment on thishanger or eposits shoes or other articles in the base of the chamber 28 suitable signalin mechanism will be operated to notify t e hotel servants of a desire for service on the part of the occupant of the room. The hanger 60 is suspended from a cross bar 61 connected to rods 62 in bearings (SF-65 in the sides of thecasing. A platform 66 is suspended-from the rods 62 from which rods 1t may be readily detached for purposes of cleaning. A spring cli 67 mounted on a collar 68 holds the plat arm 66 a ainst the collar 69 mounted on the end 0 the rod. The springs 67 may be released by pulling up on the end thereof. At the same time the collar 68 slides upward on the rod,'and as the ends of the (platform are slotted, this platform may rea ily be withdrawn. The upper ends of the rods 62 are connected to bell crank levers 70 by means of links 71. The bell cranks 70 are pivoted on brackets 72 mounted on the top wall of the casing 25. The short arms of the bell crank levers are connected .to a signal actuating lever by means of links 74. The signa actuatin lever 73 is mounted on a shaft 75 suspende from the top of the casing by bracket 76.-

A spring 77 is connected to the short arms of both of the bell crank levers by means of clips 78. This spring normally maintains the cross bar 61 and hanger 60 in raised position shown in full lines in Fi 3, with ust suflicient tension to counter-b ance the supporting frame and mechanism. Washers 79 of felt or the like ma be mounted on the guides 64-65 to dea en the sound ofthe parts coming into contact.

When a garment is hun on the hanger 60 the cross bar 61 descen s to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3 extending the spring 77 ating lever 73. Movement of this signal actuating lever is transmitted by the s aft 75 to signaling disks which are visible throu h the opening 34 in the doors 31 and 32. These signaling disks 80 and 81 are similarand are each provided with a legend inscribed thereon, the display of which serves as an indication. The remainder of the disk of the same finish as the outside of the casing 25 so as to be entirely inconspicuous when the signal is not displayed.

'lho signaling disk 80 is mounte on a -ing 34 at the top of the door 32. bracket 82 is provided with two arms 84 and moving the signaling actuthe upper edge thereof. A in 88 serves as a pivot for t e signaling sk 80 and the bracket and the pm are so positioned that the disk 80 will boin register with the o hand 85 and the disk 80 is provided with a flange 86. A spring 87 connects the arm 84 with the flange 83 of a signaling, disk and tends to draw the flange 86 against the arm 85 which is provided with cushion 88 against which the flange strikes.

A flat leaf spring 89 is fastened to the disk 80 as by rive; 90 so that the spring and disk move in uni: 011. The s ring 89 is arranged to stand )ut from t e back of the disk 80 sufiicient to engage a rojection 92 on the end of the arm 91 which is mounted on the signal actu atin shaft 75.

It: can now-be saen t at ifthe guest opens the door 31 and hangs a arment on the hanger 60 or deposits an ob ect on the platform 66, the tensi )nof the spring 77 will be overcome and the cross bar 61 will move to the dotted line position. At the same time the bell cranks 70 will be swung about their pivots and they will, in turn, rotate the shaft 75 in a con: ter-clock-wise direction as viewed in Figs. 3 and 5. The arm 91 being in engagement wizh the ring 89 will move the signaling disk 80 rom the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. 5 so as to display the legend on the front face of the disk through the openin 34 on the hall side of the cabinet. The hote attendant, seeing the signal displayed, will open the door 32 and remove the arment or the other object, and the sprin v7 will restore the parts to the position 5 own in Fig. 3. Of course, as soon as the door 32 is opened the ring 89 and the actuating arm 91 will be isengaged and the spring 87 will restore the signaling disk 80 to its ori inal position. The signaling disk 81 1s similar in all respects to the signaling disk 80, but is constru ted to face in the opposite direction. The signaling disk 81 is arranged to give an indication when the object is moving in one direction through this cabi-, net, and the sign tling disk 80 gives an indication when the ob ect is moving in the op osite directior.

uppose, for, i1 stance, that the guest desires to have some garments cleaned or pressed, he opens the door 31 and in doing so disengages the arm 91' from the spring 89' so that movement of the garment han r 60 will not effect the signal disk 81 at t is time. The garments are placed on the supporting frame in this case upon the hanger 60 and the disk 8) is actuated as before explained to display the signal on the hall side. The door 31 is now closed and as this occurs the a1 m 91' will appear on the opposite side of the spring 89 from that of the arms 91 and 91' are beveled so as to allow the arm to rideover the-corresponding spring. The arm 91' at thistime rides back'mto the position shown in 'F1g. 4 to engage the spring 89'. The service cabinet is now empty and no signal is displayed on I 1 either side. As soon as the garments are to be returned" to the; guest the hotel servant opens the door 32' ngagmfi the arm ,91 from the spring '89 places t e garment upon the hanger 60, thereby operatm the I d1sk 81 to brin the legend in fronto 'the g84ont eroomside. Theguestis thereby apprised that his garments have been returned to him. As soon as the door 32 is closed'on the hall side, the door 31 on the room side may be opened and the arm 91' and the ring 89' are now disen ged.

As soon'as t e garments are remov 'from' the hanger 60 and the door is again closed, the signals will both be in the original nonindicating1 position. i

From t e above description it can be seen 85 that when a garment orother object is placed in the cabinet bythe guest that it will automatically indicate on the outside of the door a desire for service on the part of the When the garment is removed 40 from c cabinet toward the outside the signals are restored to indicate that the cabinet is empty. When the rments are returned from the outside they automatically 've an indication of their return to the inside so thatthe transfer may be completed.

In this manner the direction of travel is automatically indicated.

Lower compm'tment mechanism.

Y The lower compartment is employed only for one way 861'V108.' That is, for transferringobjects from the outside into the guests room. This compartment is not intended to be employed for on in and incoming service, as that is the ction of the upper compartment. Consequently, onl one si naling disk 100 is employed. T 's disk 1s visible through the openi rli g 39 on the room side. of the service door. e disk is mounted on a shaft 101 supported by a bracket 102 from the partition 30. A counter-balance 103 is connected to the shaft 101, this counterbalance being used to move the si nal to the end of its stroke after the ba once p r over the center line of the shaft the edge 06 of e signal I side to allow the ig fo garments are removed from the hanger 5 Itwillbe oticedthtth dem n e ppliedhimbythehoal n I a em of the serviceiim Itis not nece as the opening 39. This apprises the guest of the arr1val of the supphes ordered and he opens .the door 35 by releasing the lock 111. In

101. Camshaped brackets or fins 104 and 105 are mounted on thehall door and room door, tivel a The cam 105 ges disk'100. rod rejecting from-the shaft 101 is ada ted entwiththe cam 1040s be -A pin 108limits the movement of the signaling Assuming at the "guest desires some ob- 5 servan for instance, stationery, books, 7

towels, ice water, he calls for the same by means of the usual room telephone, and the same is brought to his service cabinet.

The lock 110 on the hall door '36 of the cabinet is released, the door is opened and the pitcher of ice water, for example, as shown in Fig. 10, isplaced in the lower service compartment The hotel servant may operate a sigisifilem to apprise the guest I to provide a separate key for the locks onthe lower compartment guest is immediately notified of the dlsposa of an ob ect-in said compartment, an furthermore, it is intended that this com artment be used for supplies which are reglsarly furnished the atrons and for the unauthorized removal 0 which there would' be no incentive.

When the door 36 is opened, thecam 104 engages the rod 107 and tilts the weight 103 into the position shown in Figs. 10 and 11 to display the legend in front of the moving outward, the cam 105* moves the signaling disk from the position shown a in Flgs. 10 and 11 to the sition shown in Fig. 8 obliterating the indication.

It can be seen that in this form of signal mechanism, the article in each case is preceded by a signal indicating its position.

Electric amumciator signals.

' hall side door of the cabinet as indicated in Fig. 3. A finger 182 attached to the signaling disk sweeps over the end of the spring 180 in movi to the indicating position and causes a brie contact between the springs 180 and 181 suflicient to cause an indication on the annunciator signal. As the signaling disk 80 returns to zero when the door is 0 en, the arm 182 does not cause contact tween the springs 180 and 181 as the is movement is such as to separate the springs instead of causing contact between "them. By this means the annunciator is actuated automatically by the placing ofja garment or other object in the cabinet to indicate a want on the part of a guest. The annunciator contacts may be employed on any of the forms of service door above described.

One underlying idea obtains. This is the provision of a sea a or lock for the private room of a guest. This seal'or lock isa space set a art to be accessible to both the guest and e hotel servant. That is, it serves as a channel between the private room and'the outside or public space.

The structure also embodies the idea of allowing access to the space or compartment from either side but insuring such access from only one side at a time. This is to preserve the privacy of the room by keeping the hotel servant from coming in the presence of the uest. The signaling mechanism in each of the structures described indicates on the door in advance of the direction in which .the article is moving, the resence of such article in the cabinet as we 1 as the direction in which it is to move.

It can be seen that the service door above described provides a means for eliminatin tipping of the hotel servants as the hohs servants never come into the presence of the guest and all of the guests are given uniolfil prompt service. ough I have not indicated in the above description the material from which the door. may be constructed it is to be understood that any material suitable for construct' doors heretofore known ma be employ The structure is ca able being em 'ed in an all metal oor for fire proof construction.

I claim- I 1. A main door having an opening there through, a secondary door man on each side of said main door to close Sald opening, a compartment being therebly completed by said secondary doors, and a ock for each of said secondary doors for electively looking it in closed posltion exclusivel from its own side of the main door, said ocks being normally operative one only at a time so that each of said secondary doors when locked closed forms part of the main door as a complete normall operative barrier structure while the ot er secondary door may be opened at any time to expose said compartment.

2. A main door having an opening therethrough, a secondary door arranged on each side 0 said maindoor tor-close sa1d opening, a compartment being thereby completed by a said secondary doors, a key lock for exte- 06 riorly locking and unlocking one of said iso secondagodoors, and a lock exclusively accessible m its cwn side ofthemaln door 'forlocking in clos edposition and unlocking the other secondary door said locks, being normally operative one only at a time so that each of said secoiida doors when locked closed forms a art 0 the main door as a .completenorma y operative barrier structure while the other secondary door may be main door having an opening therethrough a a secondary door ari. on each side of 881d. main door to close said opening a com artment being thereby completed by sai secondary doors, a is y lock for exteriorly lockin and unlocking the secondary door on the u lic space side in closed position, and a rock exclusively accessible from the private inclosure for locking in closed position and unlocking the other secondary door, said locks beinglnormllly operative one only at a time so t at each of said secondary doors when locked cloned forms a art of the main door as a co mplete norma y o rative barrier structure against unauthorized ent into said private inclosure while the ot or secondary door may be opened at any time to said compartment.

4. A mam door having an opening therethrough, a second ary door a on each side 0 said main door to closesa1d opemng, a. compartment being thereb com said secondary do )15, means or loc of said secondary doors in closed osition, and means for p1 eventing the sim taneous operation of said locks so that each of said seconda doors is automaticall retained locked c osed to form a aplart o the main door as a complete norm y operative barrier structure while the other secondary door pen. 5. A main door having an opening therethrou h, a secondary door a d on each sideo said main door to close said opening, a compartment being thereby completed by said secondary doors, a key lock for exteriorly locking and unlocking one of said secondary doors, and means exclusively acces-- sible from its own side of the main oor for lockingin closed position and unlocking the other secondary door, and means for pre venting the simultaneous operatiomof said looks so that eacl. of said secondary doors is automatically ret lined locked closed to form a part of the main door as a complete normally operative carrier structure while the other secondary door is open.

A main door having an opening there-.- a second [ary door arranged on each side of said main doom close said openin 1 m closed to mm; a m of the a compartment being thoreb' com leted main door'as a com lets norm y operative said secondary doors, means orloc ing eac barrier structure w s the other secondary of said secondary doors in closed position, door isopen.

5 and means interlochng said-locks, saidlocks In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe 15 being operable exclusively from the outsidemy name this 25 da of Jun A. D. 1914.

of said secondary doors and said 'interlockc J. MA CHE'I'IE. ing means operating to revent the simulta- Witnemes: neous operation of said ock'sso that each of v Donams' M, Surtmnmnn; 10 said secondarydoors is automatlcally 7 re- Pmor S. Kaunun. 

